MLB: Starting pitching main catalyst for lousy bullpen

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher B.J. Rosenberg laughs as he warms up at Citizens Bank Park during a storm on Tuesday in Philadelphia. The baseball game between the Phillies and the Atlanta Braves has been postponed due to inclement weather. (AP Photo)

PHILADELPHIA – The rain, shifting winds and general misery of Tuesday night’s forecast led to the Phillies postponing their game with the Braves until later in the season.

The general misery of Monday night’s 9-6 loss, however, lingers for another day. Despite the fact that right-handed reliever B.J. Rosenberg allowed back-to-back-to-back home runs, and southpaw Jake Diekman’s chance to fill it as closer for a resting Jonathan Papelbon resulted in a game-winning grand slam by Dan Uggla, manager Ryne Sandberg thinks the bigger issue is the lack of deep work his starting pitchers have been offering.

Through 13 games, the starting pitchers have worked 73 1/3 innings, or an average of 5 2/3 innings per start. That’s nearly a full inning less than the Phillies got from starters on average in 2011, and even less than the 6 IP starters averaged last season.

While asking relievers to get one or two more outs in a game might not sound like much, when it is one or two more outs in every game, it starts to add up.

Advertisement

“I think overall our pitchers have to establish the strike zone and work ahead in the counts,” Sandberg said Tuesday afternoon. “I think that plays a big part in why we’re one of the slowest playing games in baseball. Every time I look at the clock and leave, it’s almost midnight. I can’t believe it, but it is what it is.

“Our pitchers are throwing a lot of pitches, so on the starting pitching side they’ve been limited on the time that they can be out there.”

The biggest issue for the starters has been walks: they have allowed 30, or 3.7 walks per nine innings. Last season the Phillies’ starters had strikeouts-per-walk ratio of 2.76 and a 1.325 WHIP. So far the K/BB ratio is down to 2.03 and the WHIP is at a lofty 1.609.

It seems as if 2011 is eons ago. That year the Phillies had a 4.22 K/BB ratio and a 1.11 WHIP from the starters.

Clearly, a healthy and effective Cole Hamels will make those numbers trend in the right direction. Hamels has allowed 2.2 walks per nine innings, has a 3.83 K/BB ratio and a 1.141 WHIP for his career. But Sandberg and pitching coach Bob McClure would much rather the staff not be so desperate for Hamels to be in midseason form when he likely makes his season debut April 23 against the Dodgers. Hamels makes what’s expected to be his final rehabilitation start after offseason shoulder tendinitis Thursday.

“The challenge has been we’ve had to use everybody,” Sandberg said. “Then we’ve had to give guys days off because of the usage, with just two starters going seven innings in the first two weeks.

“Whether it’s (due to it being) early in the season, I don’t know. Whether (the starters) are trying to be a little too perfect … We’ve had numerous games where it has been very tight for five or six innings, so maybe the starting pitchers feel they have to be perfect in those games.”

Cliff Lee, who has the sixth-best strikeout/walk ratio in baseball history, should bring down the Phils’ unsightly numbers in that category when he pitches Wednesday against Atlanta’s Julio Teheran. The Phillies are just pushing their starters back a day, which should mean Jonathan Pettibone’s last start before Hamels returns will come Friday in Colorado against the Rockies to start that 10-game West Coast road trip.